Judge orders Stormy Daniels to pay Trump $293,000 in legal fees

Dec. 11 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Stormy Daniels to pay President Donald Trump nearly $300,000 in legal fees.

U.S. District Judge James Otero ordered Daniels, born Stephanie Clifford, to pay $293,052.33 in attorneys fees to Trump's legal team in a defamation case against the president, which he dismissed in October.

Trump paid his lawyer, Charles Harder, $841.64 per hour in the case, with other lawyers being paid between $307.60 and 756.49 per hour.

Otero ruled the hourly rate was "reasonable" based on the "experience, skill and reputation" of the attorneys requesting fees.

He also wrote that Trump's attorney's spent "excessive" time on the case, ruling Daniels would ultimately pay 75 percent of the legal fees in addition to $1,000 in sanctions.

Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, spoke out against the ruling, saying "Harder and Trump deserve each other because they are both dishonest" in a statement to The Hill.

"They received less than one-half what they asked for because the request was gross and excessive. Stormy will never [have] to pay a dime because they owe her over $1 million in attorney's fees and costs from the main NDA case, especially in light of Cohen's guilty plea to a felony," Avenatti said.

Harder praised the ruling as "a total victory for the president, and a total defeat for Stormy Daniels in this case."

Otero dismissed the suit on the grounds that Trump's tweet at the center of the case was "rhetorical hyperbole" which is protected by the First Amendment, rather than defamation.

Daniels alleged an April 18 tweet -- in which Trump said a composite sketch of a man who allegedly threatened her was a "total con job" -- constituted an accusation that she fabricated the sketch and resulted in her being exposed to ridicule and violent threats.

Additionally, Daniels is suing Trump and his longtime attorney Michael Cohen to void a non-disclosure agreement regarding her alleged 2006 affair with Trump.